-The Philadelphia Inquirer - December 18, 1862

"Mother prepared breakfast—and other meals afterward—as usual; but not a mouthful was eaten all day by either of us. We each drank half a cup of coffee; that was all. Little was said. We got every newspaper morning and evening, and the frequent extras of that period, and pass’d them silently to each other." - Walt Whitman - Specimen Days

Whitman was writing of the day he heard of the murder of President Abraham Lincoln, but surely the same quiet and anxious routine obtained in homes all across the country after every big battle during the Civil War as families scanned the newspapers for names of fathers, sons, and brothers among the killed and wounded.


I happen to have a copy, well-worn, of the December 18, 1862 edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer. 150 years ago today and just a few days after the Battle of Fredericksburg.


A few snippets from the paper are provided below: the masthead; headlines; lists of the killed and wounded; and - advertisements for holiday presents in the stores.